A collaborative effort to support central Ohio entrepreneurs and to nurture the best ideas from the region includes a display of art for purchase as one of its active components.

Local tech company Bluemile, ranked in 2010 by Inc. Magazine as one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, is featuring artwork by CCAD alumni and faculty in its New Albany office as one way to introduce visitors and other programs to the college.

“We see CCAD as a leader in creative thought,” said Michael Marlowe, president and co-founder of Bluemile. “We’re introducing the college to various programs that we participate in that encourage idea growth and opportunity.”

Kevin J. Conlon, vice president for Academic Affairs, said CCAD talent came up in discussions with Marlowe as one way to support the company’s extensive involvement in venture accelerator and entrepreneurial programs.

“The elements that artists use to create are the same that entrepreneurs use to develop their businesses,” Marlowe said.

Since joining CCAD in June, Conlon has gotten to know the business executive as well as Fine Arts alumnus Adam Brouillette (CCAD 2002), executive director for Wonderland and founder of Couchfire Collective. Both impressed him with their ideas about the value of creativity as a means to solve problems, spark innovation and develop entrepreneurship.

Conlon immediately thought of Brouillette as a source for connecting with the best artistic talent that Columbus has to offer when Marlowe inquired about showcasing artists and their work. In a matter of days Brouillette organized 12 artists, the majority of whom are affiliated with CCAD, with a shared vision that creative individuals of all types contribute to the overall cultural value of the area.

“I have learned through experience that artistic, creative cultures thrive when supported and coupled with business entrepreneurs,” Brouillette said. “The opportunity to have these creative endeavors collide makes complete sense and I’m happy to do my part.”

“It makes perfect sense,” Conlon said. “(An artist’s) way of thinking during the creative process, also called abductive thinking, is identical to the sort of thinking that entrepreneurs engage to come up with new ideas.”

“I believe that Michael, Adam and I all share a vision that creative individuals of all types can contribute their skills in a way that realizes value from new ideas and new intellectual property,” Conlon said. “Overall, those skills contribute to the cultural value of the region and lead to the establishment and growth of creative companies in central Ohio.”